This post is not in any way related to Daisy and her currently amazing antics in the fabulous islands of Indonesia, instead its about my mostly ‘unexciting’ life back here in Atlanta. When I first moved to America I was consistently told the same thing “Oh I love your accent, I just love to hear you talk”!

Mind you I was in Tennessee at the time, the “south” where everyone sounds like Paula Dean, sadly they all thought I was either of German or Australian decent! something I’ve never been able to understand. Oh well, to my way of thinking the lovely people of Tennessee are a little like the Welsh (that is, rarely leaving their homeland/state) so to speak.

Now before all the Welsh people get on their high horses and tell me I’m wrong, I have to say that quite honestly about 90% of the Welsh people I met (and I met a lot) had never left Wales, or ever wanted to leave Wales, and probably never would actually leave Wales. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that, if being in Wales is what makes you happy, then I’m happy for you, and I thank God that we’re all different. I on the other hand couldn’t leave Wales fast enough. I love blue sky, sunshine and warm weather, something I rarely saw in my SEVEN years in that country.

But how great is it, that people are so happy where they are that they never want to leave, it makes you think! My main trouble was being English, the Welsh do not like the English, so my seven years there were pretty miserable.

Again I need to be careful here as my Mother-in-Law was actually Welsh, and she was really lovely, her sister Hilary who is Welsh is also lovely, so there are many exceptions, every country has its quota of lovely people, I wish I had found a few more, honestly I’ve been so much happier since I left.

ALTHOUGH… In Wales defense; the country is spectacularly green, with some beautiful scenery and lovely countryside, enough wild coastline to inspire any landscape artists, and the Welsh raise the best lamb outside of New Zealand (finding tasty lamb in America… Good luck with that).

Actually finding any tasty meat in America is hard, possibly because 90% of the livestock here is NOT raised grazing lovely rich pastures like the Welsh hills, instead they’re raised in the horrifying confines of dark crates in massive storage sheds, where they are unable to move. It’s horrible, really horrible. Discovering this is what made Daniela become a vegetarian.

I was talking to someone at a friends house the other night, she was southern and loved her meat, had to have it three times a day apparently! I started to ask her if she ever thought about where it came from and how it was raised, her reply “Oh I don’t want to know that, it might stop me enjoying it” Oh Dear God, thank goodness I’m not a violent person, it was all I could do not to punch her in the face.

This is the trouble, people don’t want to know about how much animals suffer so they can enjoy meat three times a day, it makes me sick. So many people I talk to about this say “I don’t want to know”. I think that’s ignorant and terribly sad.

I rarely eat meat in America, only if I can find free range, grass fed, organically raised livestock will I eat it.

The TV commercials make me so angry, its all meat, meat, meat, I feel physically sick sometimes if I happen to catch one of the disgusting commercials, especially the one about pork, pigs are really intelligent creatures. I really hope if there is another life that all these meat eaters will come back as a pig, cow or chicken. And don’t even get me started on fois gras…

Sadly the practice of raising living creatures like machines in horrible conditions is gradually spreading across the Atlantic to Europe, as more and more people adopt the practice of eating meat three times a day. The demand is so large now that farmers can no longer operate their farms as they used too and make money, the only way to survive is to adopt the crate system, how terribly sad is that!

I honestly think that children should be taught in school about farming methods, I’m sure if they were, there would be a great deal less meat eaters and animals would once again have a small chance of being raised humanely. We would also have a much smaller obesity problem and healthier people.

I don’t think its wrong to eat meat, unfortunately I love it, its just that my conscience won’t let me eat it.

If only everyone ate less of it, if it was a treat instead of a must have 3 times (and more) a day, everyone would enjoy it more and the farmers could raise their livestock in fields, with a real life, Oh if only.

Sadly I know it will never happen because people don’t care and are just too damn greedy…